4- On January 23, 1980, Spain and Holland played a Friendly match in Vigo. The Dutch at first refused to play because the field was rain soaked, however, the match referee, Marcel Bacou of France, ruled the match to go on.

After 18 minutes, a floodlight failure occurred that took as long as an hour to fix. By this time, the Dutch had already showered and were preparing to leave.

They were persuaded by authorities to stay and play, which they did.

Photo From: Het Nederlands Elftal, De Histoire van Oranje, 1905-1989

(Dutch squad, January 23, 1980, Spain 1-Holland 0)

5- West Germany played a European Championship qualifier at Malta on February 25, 1979.

The press heavily criticized West Germany’s performance as everyone had expected a big win, instead the match ended as a scoreless tie.

The match was played on Gzira’s infamous sodden pitch.

West German Manager Juup Derwall stated that “asking our men to play on that sort of a pitch would be like asking Picasso to paint on a wall.”